“What happened?” Maverick demanded. “Where’s Cole?”
“Where is Kaylia?” Sahira asked.
“I don’t know,” Lexi said. “I lost sight of Kaylia. I have to go back for her and Cole.”
A small plop against the rocky floor alerted Lexi that the child’s blood had dripped from her fingers. She winced as she closed her fingers and willed herself not to cry.
When they first entered the portal, Lexi felt the faint beat of the child’s heart against her chest, but the child had lost too much blood. There was no way she still lived.
War was ugly and brutal and so unfair, but this war didn’t have to happen, which only made it so much worse. The monster sitting on a throne that wasn’t his didn’t have to do this to the realms.
While she understood Lord Andreas was once a good man and the throne had corrupted him, it didn’t matter. After knowing what it did to those who ruled before him, he’d made a conscious choice to sit on it. He gladly wielded his power over the realms, battered the human realm into submission, and was now ravaging the realms he believed might stand against him.
The Lord had chosen death, and though Lexi far preferred life, shewouldmake him suffer the consequences of his choice.
“What happened?” Maverick demanded again.
“The Lord’s men and dragons have destroyed Verdan,” Lexi said. Sahira’s hand flew to her mouth as she cried out. “I have to go back for Cole and Kaylia.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“So am I,” her father said, and Sahira nodded.
Before Lexi could respond, a new portal opened a few feet away, and Cole emerged. Blood plastered his black hair to his face and neck; it coated the tips of his pointed ears, dripped off what remained of his clothes, and was so thick in some spots it nearly covered the ciphers on his arms.
The shadows rose off him like Medusa’s snakes as he closed the portal. The whites of his eyes were entirely black, but their silver burned brightly. A flash of their normal, Persian blue color went through them when they latched onto her before the silver returned.
With a small cry, Lexi closed the distance between them. Ignoring the shadows, she threw herself into his arms. She didn’t notice the blood—she had plenty of it on her too—she only cared that he was safe.
When he embraced her and lifted her off the ground, she encircled her legs around his waist and hugged him. The mother’s sobs doused her joy, and she buried her face in Cole’s neck as her heart ached for the woman’s anguish.
“Get me something to cover her,” Cole said in a voice Lexi barely recognized as his. “Now!” he barked when no one moved.
Her dad hurried across the room, opened the door, and left. He returned a minute later with a blanket and Brokk.
Cole shifted his hold and wrapped the blanket around her as Brokk took in the scene. Her dad must have filled him in on at least most of it, as he didn’t ask any questions.
Nestled in the blanket, Lexi closed her eyes as she inhaled Cole’s allspice scent. Though the coppery tang of blood was more prominent on him now, his natural, potent aroma was still there.
Tension thrummed through him as the shadows swayed. She’d seen what he’d unleashed in Verdan and knew the more he drew on the shadows, the more they threatened to consume him. And he was cold as he stood with his legs braced apart and his hands on her back.
His body was rigid against hers; he was more distant than she’d ever seen him, but gradually warmth seeped through him and his arms softened around her. It was too late to undo what happened in Verdan, but he washers, and she wouldnotlose him to the shadows.
CHAPTERFORTY
“Are you okay?”she whispered.
“I am now,” Cole said.
“Kaylia?”
“I don’t know where she is,” Cole said. “I lost her in the fighting.”
“Me too.” She leaned back to look at him and was relieved to see the blackness seeping out of his eyes. “We have to go back. We can’t leave her alone, and I can help protect her and the others from the dragons.”
“You’re in no condition to return.”
“I’m naked, not injured,” Lexi retorted.
